The subject matter described herein relates to communication networks, and more particularly to techniques for channel allocation in wireless local area networking.
A wireless local area network (WLAN) deployed in a business or enterprise environment comprises numerous access point (AP) devices, each of which may be positioned in or near a building to provide network access to wireless client devices. Wireless communication by devices in the WLAN may be made in one or more frequency bands. Each AP device deployed in a WLAN must be assigned to a certain channel for operation in a frequency band of operation.
Wireless communication by devices in the WLAN may be implemented in one or more frequency bands. In the United States WLANs commonly use two unlicensed frequency bands in the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz spectrum. Some AP devices designed for enterprise deployment can simultaneously operate in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. Such AP devices have two radio transceivers and are referred to as “dual-band AP devices”, indicating that they have a 2.4 GHz radio transceiver and a 5 GHz radio transceiver. In operation, AP devices exchange information about adjacent AP devices, RF channels and received signal strength indicators (RSSI). This information may be used by a WLAN controller to provision AP devices and to assign RF channels and power levels to AP devices to help reduce the potential co-channel interference.
In networking environments such as complex manufacturing environments, new innovations that utilize unique wireless networking resources or security settings may be assigned a specific service set identifier (SSID). This requires extensive process and intervention for devices which are not part of the general enterprise WLAN yet bring significant productivity gains (Process, Cycle Time, Cost Savings) to Factory Floor/Production—Equipment Engineering organizations. Accordingly, systems and methods to manage WLAN channel allocation may find utility.